National farmers and fishermen award winners launch strategy document

The National Farmers and Fishermen Award Winners Association of Ghana, in a bid to rebrand itself and re-align its vision to buttress the agricultural agenda of the government, has launched a strategy document.

The document, detailing the roadmap which would aid government to bolster agriculture in the country with a resultant enhancement of farmers’ economies, is hinged on five priority areas – youth, skills, farming, economic and advocacy.

It also seeks to engage government on farmer-related flagship programmes such as Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), One District One Factory (1D1F), One Village One Dam and NABCO’s module, Feed Ghana, all aimed at pushing for its advocacy agenda for farmers’ welfare and interest.

Mr Davies Narh Korboe, Chairman of NFFAWAG, addressing the launching ceremony held in Kumasi under the theme, “Making the most out of our Farmers and Fishermen” which also saw the rebranding of the Association’s logo, said the Association was also working hard to ensure good returns on investments  for the farmers.

“This would be done by influencing international, continental and regional conventions, protocols and agreements in relation to agriculture”, he said.The NFFAWAG, he stressed, needed to promote an agenda for a paradigm shift to women and youth in agricultural production through the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to further progress marketing of produce and link up to markets.

Mr Korboe said “to move agricultural to the next level, we need a single digit rate”, citing the United States (US) as having only one per cent of the labour force in agriculture “but still feeds US and the international market admirably”.

He said the NFFAWAG will bring its expertise to bear and see much greater development in agriculture, the driving force of the country’s economy, and justify the recognition, acknowledgement and investment made by the taxpayer.

Mr Simon Osei Mensah, the Ashanti Regional Minister, advised farmers to have a positive perception about their profession, explaining that, farming was not for the poor and they should desist from branding themselves as such.

He called on farmers to make farming more attractive for the youth to grow the agricultural value chain.